The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VIII

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The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VIII

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Title: The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VIII. (of 12)
Author: Edmund Burke
Release Date: April 13, 2006 [EBook #18161]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE WORKS
OF
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
EDMUND BURKE
IN TWELVE VOLUMES
VOLUME THE EIGHTH
[Illustration: Burke Coat of Arms.]
LONDON JOHN C. NIMMO 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. MDCCCLXXXVII

CONTENTS OF VOL. VIII.
NINTH REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. JUNE 25, 1783.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THE COMPANY'S AFFAIRS IN INDIA 3
CONNECTION OF GREAT BRITAIN WITH INDIA 41
EFFECT OF THE REVENUE INVESTMENT ON THE COMPANY 56
INTERNAL TRADE OF BENGAL 75 SILK 83 RAW SILK 88 CLOTHS, OR PIECE-GOODS 99 OPIUM 116 SALT 142 SALTPETRE 170
BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN INDIA 173
ELEVENTH REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. WITH EXTRACTS FROM THE APPENDIX. NOVEMBER 18, 1783 217
ARTICLES OF CHARGE OF HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL: PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN APRIL AND MAY, 1786.--ARTICLES I.-VI.
I. ROHILLA WAR 307
II. SHAH ALLUM 319
III. BENARES

PART I. RIGHTS AND TITLES OF THE RAJAH OF BENARES 327

PART II. DESIGNS OF MR. HASTINGS TO RUIN THE RAJAH OF
BENARES 339

PART III. EXPULSION OF THE RAJAH OF BENARES 354

PART IV. SECOND REVOLUTION IN BENARES 380

PART V. THIRD REVOLUTION IN BENARES 386
IV. PRINCESSES OF OUDE 397
V. REVOLUTIONS IN FURRUCKABAD 467
VI. DESTRUCTION OF THE RAJAH OF SAHLONE 484

NINTH REPORT
OF THE
SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
ON
THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA.
June 25, 1783.

NINTH REPORT
From the SELECT COMMITTEE [of the House of Commons] appointed to take into consideration the state of the administration of justice in the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and to report the same, as it shall appear to them, to the House, with their observations thereupon; and who were instructed to consider how the British possessions in the East Indies may be held and governed with the greatest security and advantage to this country, and by what means the happiness of the native inhabitants may be best promoted.
I.--OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THE COMPANY'S AFFAIRS IN INDIA.
In order to enable the House to adopt the most proper means for regulating the British government in India, and for promoting the happiness of the natives who live under its authority or influence, your Committee hold it expedient to collect into distinct points of view the circumstances by which that government appears to them to be most essentially disordered, and to explain fully the principles of policy and the course of conduct by which the natives of all ranks and orders have been reduced to their present state of depression and misery.
Your Committee have endeavored to perform this task in plain and popular language, knowing that nothing has alienated the House from inquiries absolutely necessary for the performance of one of the most essential of all its duties so much as the technical language of the Company's records, as the Indian names of persons, of offices, of the tenure and qualities of estates, and of all the varied branches of their intricate revenue. This language is, indeed, of necessary use in the executive departments of the Company's affairs; but it is not necessary to Parliament. A language so foreign from all the ideas and habits of the far greater part of the members of this House has a tendency to disgust them with all sorts of inquiry concerning this subject. They are fatigued into such a despair of ever obtaining a competent knowledge of the transactions in India, that they are easily persuaded to remand them back to that obscurity, mystery, and intrigue out of which they have been forced upon public notice by the calamities arising from their extreme mismanagement. This mismanagement has itself, as your Committee conceive, in a great measure arisen from dark cabals, and secret suggestions to persons in power, without a regular public inquiry into the good or evil tendency of any measure, or into the merit or demerit of any person intrusted with the Company's concerns.
[Sidenote: Present laws relating to the East India Company, and internal and external policy.]
The plan adopted by your Committee is, first, to consider the law